Tag Archive: Pinnochio

Austin Shafran was the official spokesman and defendant of the most dysfunctional legislative body in the United States, and he’s proud of it.

Cause everything wrong in government deserves a simpleton’s justification.

During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, American troops, tanks, and their guns of liberty crossed heaven and earth to prevent Sadaam Hussein’s use of nuclear weapons. As our troops rolled into the heart of Baghdad, Iraqi information officer Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf stood up, puffed his chest, and said on TV, “We are beating back the infidels… they are all crushed” as an American tank rolled through the background.

It’s worth a laugh. Around that time, The Brennan Center of Justice said it outright, “New York’s legislature is the most dysfunctional in the nation,” yet their findings haven’t stopped a few of it’s most prolific, even pugilistic defenders say to us: hey, everything is fine, and no, of course we Democrats aren’t corrupt, what a silly notion!

Like Muhammed Saeed al-Sagaf, Austin Shafran was the Democrat’s top information officer, and just like Muhammed, he used his platform to whitewash the facts with lie after lie in an attempt to exonerate democrats from any wrongdoing.

Shafran has made a career of trying to express to the world why every bit of misuse of taxpayer money, tax hikes, misuse of government resources and governmental inefficiencies were okay.

Excuse making was just a routine part of his job. This is the man who tried to tell us that the Dems in control of the Senate were not corrupt, inept, or dishonest. In fact, they were quite the opposite and it’s the Republicans fault. While Rome burned and a historic coup took place, Austin played his fiddle, pointed his fingers while high on the hog (he made a ton of cash doing this) and even worse, he proclaimed – just like Muhammed – don’t worry, we are beating back the infidels. Yea, right.

Meanwhile, the slow and steady debasement of public service in New York becomes more and more visible across the spectrum, characterized by: Brian McLoughlin, Hiram Monseratte, Malcolm Smith, Donald Manes, Gregory Meeks, Carl Kruger, Pedro Espada, Elliot Spitzer, and Anthony Weiner, just to name a few. Yet while sin and corruption are not new, we have to take a look at where all of these corrupt pols got their start and then turn inward and ask how did these criminals get into office in the first place? Was it their swagger? Was it their sex appeal or charisma that won over voters? Maybe low turnout?

Despite penetrating the thin veil of scrutiny the local papers try and apply, New York still leads the nation with criminals in elected office, but its propaganda ministers like Austin Shafran who have used their persuasive rhetoric to deceive and misdirect the voter’s attention from a stark reality, and now this chronic excuse-maker is running for public office!

As voters of the 19th District begin to examine the candidates for Council, let’s look beyond sparkling appearances and into the facts. For starters, Queenscrap did a great job of exposing Austin Shafran’s sham website for Council which is totally misleading.

Shafran has had a corrosive impact in public policymaking and it could extend into the 19th if we aren’t more mindful of whom we vote for, especially if we allow him to sanitize his history with one alibi after another.

When the Brennan Center published its findings on the most dysfunctional state legislature — you know, the one that Austin represented — he was like Muhammed beating back the good government advocates as the “infidels” with his mis-truths that were so paper-thin and incredulous he might as well have held the press conference in front of his desk piled high with envelopes filled with our tax money.

It’s people like Austin Shafran that have created this crisis of public ethics and its way out of control. On this April Fools, let us remember this one thing: the biggest joke is Austin Shafran trying to make a fool out of us all.